


Lights Out, Love

by BabySnoopy



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Fluff without Plot, Gen, Multi, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 15:59:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17429024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BabySnoopy/pseuds/BabySnoopy
Summary: there's a blackout and yukhei is maybe, perhaps, a little bit scared of the dark





	Lights Out, Love

“The electricity might be out for a while.”

A bolt of lightning struck and light danced into the room, touching the corners for a split second before the loud, rattling thunder broke the silence between Yukhei’s words and your response. You look up at the tall figure, who was now towering as far as ever with you sat cross-legged on the floor. You smiled gently at the face that was half lit by the brightness of your phone screen. Yukhei assumed his position by the window, poking his face through the curtains you leaned against, eyeing the weather outside as if it was going to stop anytime soon but the ice that pelted against the window said otherwise.

“My phone is about to die too,” you remind him. Yukhei looks down at you, the pitch blackness that was eventually going to catch up, finally dawning on him. You cock your head to the side, seeing his thoughts written out on his forehead so clearly. “Don’t tell me you’re scared of the dark?”

“No!” His response contradicted the speed in which he said it and his loudness almost gave the thunder outside a run for its money. “The dark should be scared of  _me_.” As though the blackness of the night waited for its cue, your phone screen faintly lights up once before shutting off, leaving your eyes to scramble for the last piece of light.

Just as quick, you feel palms that didn’t belong to you, grab onto your face and their clamminess smear against your cheek.

“Yukhei, that’s my face.”

“Oh.” His hands then travel down from your cheek to your neck, slowly running his thumb down your throat and you know he’s doing this on purpose. Though he then quickly grabs onto your shoulder and makes his way to your elbow where he finds a comfortable grip that showed no indication of letting go.

“Are you sure you don’t have a flashlight?” You ask again. The hail was making it impossible for anyone to go and fix the generator and you’re not sure if it’s good for your eyes to keep trying to focus on ambiguous shapes and pretend there is light where there isn’t.

“Birthday candles! There’s bound to be some in the kitchen downstairs, I’ll go check.” You expect the body next to you to move but instead you feel tugging at your arm as you’re blindly following Yukhei out of the room.

“I thought you said  _you_ would check?” You comment, as you both slowly worked your way out from the door.

“By me, I meant we.”

The lightning came back and gave a glimpse of where you both were, successfully making it out of the room and just a couple steps away from the staircase.

“Okay,” Yukhei pauses, guiding your arm and placing your hand on his shoulder. “Get on my back.”

“What?”

“Get on my back, I’ll carry you downstairs so you won’t trip or anything.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s more dangerous.”

“Just do it.” And you did because you knew Yukhei was as sturdy as a rock, in both a physical and mental sense. Sure, he had a strong build and could probably bench press with you on his back for a good while, but he was also grounded in his principles and was unafraid about voicing them and sharing them with others. You liked that most about him, almost more than the piggy back rides. 

When you get to the bottom of the steps after a slow trip down, Yukhei exhales. “Alright, we’re downstairs already so get off. You’re heavy.”

You jump off his back and smack his arm. “Because it’s dark and you can’t see, I’m telling you that I’m frowning really hard at you.”

“And  _I_  don’t need to see it to know it’s cute.”

Being engulfed in darkness was  _so_ frustrating because now you have to roll your eyes at his comment but there was no point in doing so because he couldn’t see anyway. Instead, you decide to play a little trick on him. When you feel Yukhei’s hands reach behind him, probably to grab onto your arm again, you move back slightly so he’s mindlessly grabbing onto air.

“Wait, where are you…”

You take a couple steps back and walk quietly around him to get a head start towards the kitchen. Once you feel the frame of the door, you move behind it, waiting for Yukhei to come.

“If you scare me, it’s not my fault if I accidentally whack you in the face…”

You took your chances. When he walks past you and enters the kitchen, you throw your arms around his waist and Yukhei makes a sound halfway between a yelp and a scream. You press yourself tightly onto his back and you physically felt the jolt that travelled through his body and his hands gripped your wrists with a force that might’ve blocked the blood flow in your arteries.

“ _Relax_ ,” you sang. “It’s me. Ghosts would not  _dare_ to sneak up on you like this.”

With your right ear feeling the direct heat of his body warmth, you could also hear the echoing of a rapid heartbeat. You felt bad for the man but not bad enough to not have enjoyed scaring him. 

“So, where’s this candle?”

After blindly rattling through cupboards and drawers to look for a tiny birthday candle that Yukhei was only half sure was still here, he finally exclaims, “HERE!” and uses the stove to light up the candle, after probably holding it up in triumph, you imagine.

Eventually, you could see each other again. A candle as a light source always instigated an intimacy that you were always nervous about. It was like there was a certain etiquette in such a setting. Soft voices were a must, as if loudness might blow the flame away. Honesty seemed like another, the white marbled kitchen encased in a warm glow that shrunk the world into just these four walls, making it appear to be safe.

“Since you know about me. What about you? What are  _you_ scared of?” Yukhei’s eyes were already beautiful but they glowed here in the candlelight and they bore into yours with a need to discover all the things you were keeping hidden.

“Zombies?” You offer, leaning back on the counter. To be fair, you weren’t lying. There was truly a fear of dead things coming back to life, things like a past you want to forget, returning to haunt you. People from, what feels like a lifetime ago, reemerging and looking at you as the same foolish, immature person you weren’t anymore. Though you don’t say any of this, though you don’t elaborate on what you mean, Yukhei smiles and hops off the counter he sat on just across from you.

He walked towards you in two strides and held both your hands, your cold fingertips grazing his with a gentleness that spoke of empathy.

“I know you’re tough, but I’ll be here if you want me to protect you from the zombies.” And you know then and there that he’s not talking about the living dead thirsty for brains, but that he’s talking about you.

Yukhei voices his thoughts into solid forms when he is unable to understand something but you were grateful for how carefully he took his time with you. You spoke in riddles on some days and though you promise yourself you’d give him the answer within time, you’re certain that he’s already figured it out but keeps the answer to himself for your sake, waiting until you were ready to release them from your head yourself. 

Till then, he kisses your forehead to tell you he’s patient, through hailstorms, through blackouts, through whatever that came to hinder you both; he was sturdy like rock and you were teaching yourself to become grounded.


End file.
